Crow: Compassion in Action

The following is a true story as told by Rigdzin Zeoli, caretaker of the Garuda Aviary and son of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

25 years ago in San Diego, a man, we’ll call him Ryan, because his name is Ryan, happened across a baby crow. This baby crow had been dropped out of it’s nest before it was old enough to fledge. Looking up he could see it’s parents in a tree, so he didn’t interfere thinking that if he did, the parents would abandon the chick. The next day he stopped by to find the baby crow still on the ground. Ryan brought the crow to the vet. Frost damaged the tiny bird’s right wing and tail and had to be removed. Ryan kindly took the crow home to care for her for the next thirteen years. In that time while living in a wire cage, Crow managed to mangle both of her feet. They were worthless clubs for the rest of her life.

As an inhabitant of Sedona, Arizona, Ryan came to know a man who took care of birds. Ryan asked that man to care for the crow. I know this because I am that man. I took the bird who we’ll call Crow, because she’s a crow, and cared for her the best I could.

Because Crow had clubbed feet she couldn’t perch or walk. She would hobble about on her “elbows” which developed edema. Wrapping her lower legs in small strips of bandage provided her with “shoes” to keep the edema under control. I gave her the best, most nutritious diet I could manage. I knew she liked my cooking because she would gobble it down with enthusiasm. I must have made the right nutritional choices because she lived to the ripe old age of 25. Crows usually only live to 15 years at best.

A crow that can’t walk or perch can certainly make a mess of itself with it’s own waste, so I lined the bottom of her cage with pine shavings. As she got older, the dust from the shavings would get in her weak eye and cause inflammation. I corrected that with antiseptic eye medicine. And I would put the fresh pine shavings in a screen mesh and sift, sift, sift to get all of the dust out. Keeping that weak eye healthy was an uphill battle. She eventually lost sight in that eye within a year of her passing. About two months before she passed, she got pretty weak. I would crouch down next to her and tell her if she wants to stay, she can stay as long as she likes and I will always take care of her and love her. But if she wanted to go, that was ok too because I would tell Jetsunma and she would make sure Crow had a auspicious bardo and rebirth.

I came in one Tuesday morning to find Crow had passed. I determined she had passed within the hour because her good eye was still in perfect shape. After death, eyes begin to change pretty quickly. I called Jetsunma right away to tell her that Crow had passed. She said she would take care of it. That evening I walked around the Stupa saying prayers with Crows body in a little box and then buried her.
I saw Jetsunma later that evening and she had a wonderful story to tell me.

Shortly after I called her, she went into her prayer room to do Crow’s powa. When a being goes through the bardo, they are often confused and frightened, so Jetsunma appears to them as something or somebody they will recognize. In this case it was my voice and my boots. While she was alive, I cleaned Crow’s cage every few days. I’d have to put her on the floor next to me. Down there she would get a good look at my boots. In the bardo, Crow was comforted by this presence she thought was me. Jetsunma embraced her and began to lift her up out of the bardo. At that moment, a very loud murder of crows (flock of crows) circled over Jetsunma’s house. They landed in a part of the yard we call “the grove” and then flew off. Jetsunma could see this for what it really was. It was a group of dakini’s that had taken physical form to collect Crow’s soul, essence, consciousness, whatever you want to call it. Crow appeared with them while in flight before landing and then flew off, escorted by these dakini’s. As they flew off they dissolved into emptiness. What a wonderful thing! Crow had never experienced flight. On this occasion, she flew in a perfect body with other crows. It must have felt joyous and amazing.

Now here’s the kicker! I always figured Crow was burning off some bad body karma, judging from her pathetic broken little body. Jetsunma told me she could see that this rebirth was a kind of personal hell realm. Apparently, these hell realms can intermingle with our own physical existence. She told me Crow would have suffered terribly had it not been for me. she said I was the hero in this story because I made Crow’s plight bearable.
I can’t express how happy that made me. To know that I had managed to save Crow from some of the pain and suffering. And that Crow had burned off that negative karma, then achieved liberation.
When I said prayers at the Stupa with Crow’s body, I had not yet heard the details of this story. I only knew that Jetsunma had found her and liberated her. When we usually say prayers, go to a Stupa, do practice at an alter, we generally ask for things. We pray to the 3 precious jewels to fix this, or change that. This time however, I had nothing but gratitude. No requests, only thank you, thank you, thank you. Jetsunma… Thank you for liberating this dear being.  Crow… Thank you for the honer of serving you.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved